Big Ed

Lyrics:GauthierMusic:Gauthier

Played by the New Riders of the Purple Sage in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Introduced on one occasion by John Dawson:

[Dawson] "Rusty's gonna sing you a song about a camping trip that he and some friends of his took on time. They went down to the
Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina - well it's actually up to the Great Smokey Mounains from here.
Anyway, they were having a great time, they'd brought all sorts of good stuff in with them, they brought a [?] jelly-roll,
some Budweiser beer - hang on, let me get my five dollars from the Anheuser-Busch guy now - yeah, well, anyway.
So they were sitting there having a great old time, partying, and this large black dog came wandering up.
Only it turned out not to be a dog at all.
[Gauthier} Turned out to be a bear. His name was Ed.
[Dawson] How do you know his name was Ed?
[Gauthier] You had to be there, John. Anyway, his name was Ed, he ate our sandwiches,
drank our Budweiser. We wrote a song about him. Ballad Of Bid Ed The Bear.

Lyrics:

Heading down south towards greener lands
We'll make it to the caves as quick as we can
Picking up coffee and friendly smiles
We found some [thaws?], had to walk a few miles

Chorus
Going through the mountains, sloshing in the streams
Think I'll make it on back next spring
Talking to the [hatfields] back-row store
Listen to the birds sing, makes you want more
I said it makes you want more
Lawdy, Mama, it makes you want more

[Springman's stone] was sure mighty fine
Talking to the boys and drinking cheap wine
Oh we'll take Ed the bear just to have him some fun
He ate a little [kick] but did he have to run
Did he have to run

[chorus]

[Smoked a little nature] and looking at the walls
Find a lot of faces that no one else saw
Eeten-dee eeten-deedle eeten-deedle-eeten-dee
Eet-eet-en-deedle-eeten deedle-eedle-ee